cycling: Tour de France Stage #16: Michael Matthews & Sunweb score in the wind

Cycling: Michael Matthews (Sunweb) was able to prevail on an exciting flat stage of the Tour de France ahead of Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) and John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo). This was his reward for his team after they had to do a lot of work for him throughout the stage. Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) lost touch early on and was not allowed to come back by Sunweb.

Sunweb distances Marcel Kittel

At every stage of the Tour de France, spectators expect a breakaway to break loose early on. Also today three riders pulled away from the peloton. But this racing situation did not last long, because the Sunweb team got serious: like in ours Preview of the 16th stage described, the pace was kept up by the German team right at the start of the race. Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) clearly had problems. Eventually, the man in the green jersey lost touch. After that, Team Sunweb didn't think about letting the man from Erfurt come back. On the contrary: the gap to the suspended Kittel group was getting bigger and bigger. It quickly became clear that Marcel Kittel could make up his sixth triumph. George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) was also left behind. The twelfth overall ranking was probably on second rest day fell ill and had to give up the race.

Side wind creates tension - André Greipel also lets go

No breakaway group was able to pull away throughout the day. The reason for this was of course the high pace set by Team Sunweb. But due to the strong side wind, the teams of the ranking riders also took part from time to time. The first season got smaller by the hour. Today's 16th stage was more like a Belgian classic than a section of the Tour de France. Around 13 kilometers from the finish line, André Greipel (Lotto Soudal), Daniel Martin (Quick-Step Floors), Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin), Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe) and Louis Meintjes (UAE) also lost touch to the first group. There even drove Chris Froome (Sky) one or the other relief.

Michael Matthews wins and puts Marcel Kittel under pressure

Two kilometers before the finish, the former top sprinter Daniele Bennati (Movistar) tried his luck in the style of a finisseur. The Italian rushed out of the decimated peloton but was caught 500 meters from the finish. There it got very curvy. First, Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) held his nose into the wind. He pulled Michael Matthews (Sunweb) on his rear wheel. On the outside, John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) sprinted for the day's win. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) was also up front again. In the end it was close. All three pros seemed almost level. After viewing the finish photo, Michael Matthews was finally named the winner of the day. The Australian thus secured his second stage win in this year's Tour de France. But not only that, because of today's success at the finish and in the intermediate ranking, he's getting closer and closer to Marcel Kittel in the fight for the green jersey. Marcel Kittel is now only 29 points ahead of Michael Matthews.

Result of the 16th stage of the 2017 Tour de France

Overall ranking of the 2017 Tour de France after 16 of 21 stages